Are split cases inevidable

[PDL]

I did a bit of reloading years ago and have been away from it for a while. I am shooting up a bunch of ammo that I reloaded around 25 years ago or so. No problems with .45 or 9mm. But out of more than 500 rnds of .38 special I found about 5 split cases after firing. No obvious signs of over pressure on any other rounds except the split cases. All .38 load used the same components except for using mixed brass. All the old stuff has been fired now. As far as I knew they were once fired brass although some might have been range rangled. Shooting either 4.3 or 4.4 gr (can't read my writing) of Bullseye with 150 JHPs.
It may be that as a novice back then I didn't pay as much attention as I should have. Either way, I'll be looking very closely at any reloads I do now.
But the question is, are split cases to be expected now and again.

 

[Raider]

Yes. The repeated sizing and firing eventually causes a case split of some kind.

Charlie

 

[CGM]

My experience with 38's is similar. I get a lot of split cases whereas this hardly ever happens with 45's.

 

[buck460XVR]

you probably used a roll crimp on the 38s. Roll crimps are harder on case mouths than the taper crimp used on .45acp and 9mm.

 

[Reloader Fred]

I load approximately 10,000 to 12,000 rounds of .38 Special per year for our Cowboy shooting. Split cases in .38 Special are a way of life. Inspect your brass as you process it, and discard any with the slightest crack in the case mouth. The belling, crimping, firing and resizing all work harden the brass, which makes it brittle. You'll also find that nickle plated brass will split before plain brass cases will.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[Dale53]

As a past "prolific user" of .38's, a commercial loader friend taught me how to "sort" split case mouths from a stack of a thousand or so without examining each one under magnification.

Grab a handful of cases and shake them in your hand. Split cases have a definite different sound. You can sort them out pretty quick. Much, much faster than visual examination.

FWIW
Dale53

 

[NKJ nut]

That is true Dale. Those split cases just jingle a different tune.

As others have noted, .38 Spl. brass is more apt to split that .45 ACP or 9mm, and sometimes from only a few firings. It's brass also splits more readily than my other most used caliber; .44 Spl. , which also uses a roll crimp.

For one thing, its relatively thin. Section a spl. case and a .357 magnum case and you will see a vast difference. That's why I started shortening magnum brass for my .38-44 loads. But that is getting into another topic.

 

[BruceM]

Repeated expansion and resizing of the case mouth work hardens the brass. The loss of elasticity causes the neck to split.

Bruce

 

[MKT]

I shoot a lot of factory fresh .38 Special and even with new manufactured ammo I see between 5 and 10 split cases every year while policing my brass at each match (I shoot approximately 30K factory rounds per year). No telling how many I don't see that just get thrown in the brass bucket. When I'm sorting brass at the end of every season I find a bunch more split cases, those all go into the recycler bucket. I only keep one brimming 5 gallon bucket of brass on hand for reloading.

 

[PDL]

Hey guys, thanks for all the responses.
I'm about to get back into some serious shooting and that requires some serious reloading. I thought I was careful back then, of course after 20 years I've gotten a bit 'more' careful.
I don't load up anywhere near max, I'm just punching holes thru paper.

 

[gunsmith11]

I have been shooting the same .41 mag brass for years, do not have a clue as too how many times I have reloaded them, but get a split case every now and then, never at the case mouth, always in the body

 

[NiklasP]

Over decades of reloading I have seen lots of split cases, some at necks, some in bodies. Work hardening, often coupled with bigger than minimum chamber dimensions, was basic cause. Bottlenecked cases that were only neck sized always failed via long cracks, full lenght of necks.

Have loaded 45 Colt and 44-40 ammo for many years and shot maybe over 1000 rounds of 44-40 each year. Brass failure of 44-40 was either from several mm-long splits in necks (usually from too much belling and roll crimping) or 1-2 cm long splits in body. Splits in body were almost always from shooting them in Rossi 92 with distinctly bigger than minimum chamber. 45 Colt brass was shot so much that it work hardened and then split, sometimes nearly full length -- no idea how many reloading this was, likely well over 10..

Recently I started loading 38 Special, initially using reloaded brass, some Ni-plated, some not. Lots of Ni-plated brass failed each of first 1-6 or so loadings, sometimes via long splits in body. New Remington brass has had few failures.

I have also had some long splits in undersized bottlenecked cases that were also too hard from being formed from some other caliber of brass.

In NONE of these cases was excess chamber pressure a facter.

Niklas